Wednesday, January 13, 2010

O Spring, where art thou?

I poked my head out today.  Poking head out for reals meaning, not just walking the dog or needing to go to the car.

I walked the garden and looked at Mother Nature's wasteland.  Is it possible to separate Mama Nature and the Arctic Cold that blew past here?  Can we say "it wasn't so" and it was an evil doppelganger of her or that the two are enemies locked in eternal battle?  Sorry, dramatizing.  Just need a little action here in my little brain.

So, walking the garden I noted the victims and survivors.

The kale was looking pretty dried out and sad, but I think it should recover or deal.  Some corn salad/mache nearby it was doing well as promised on the seed packet I got it from but proved to be a YEA slow grower.  Luckily its perennial and I will just let it spread in that small raised bed for year round deliciousness (unless it gets bitter in the summer and I will act similarly back at it).

The pak choy/bok choi/whatevers is one tough lady and has held up with no issues.  I love her so much.  Stir fries and soups for me!

(NOTE: Everything I am looking at has been uncovered during this entire arctic freeze, so I am "experimenting" by laziness to see what is good to grow in the cold for everyone's benefit, hurrah!)

Regular Indian mustards suffered a bit like the kale and will hopefully recover as it's always been hardy.  Tatsoi has no damage in the least and lookin' pretty and rosette-y.

Peas kicked it as I expected and the randomly broccoli plants are slightly wilty but we'll see what becomes of them with some upcoming warmth and sunshine.

Parsley seedlings looks like a cold and sun scalded mess, but the cilantro is fine and the dill said "forget this" and has flopped over and looks sad.

Amongst these items is a mystery plant that looks like it could be a parsley, but has tiny hairs on its leaves and grows in a bit of rosette/crown.... anyone have any ideas?



FINALLY, the crown jewel of the garden is some damn fine rambling patches of CHICKWEED.  It had the audacity to still have some lovely frost on it in the shadier parts of the garden (I am not growing this on purpose mind you) and still looked magnificent and in bud. 

A real tart of plant.  Little does she know I have plans for her.  BWAHAHAHA!  I took a nibble of a leaf earlier and found it to be quite sweet with a bit of an interesting aftertaste when you chewed for a while.  Still good, so I can't wait to try this with the Costco frozen sashimi grade salmon I've had in the fridge for too long. 

Other than my little jog, things are looking warmer, the sun feels like its out longer and my sanity level is slowly returning. Huzzah!

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